We ought then regard the present state of the universe as the effect of its previous state and the
cause of the one which is to follow. An intelligence knowing at a given instant of time all the
forces operating in nature, as well as the position at that instant of all things of which the
universe consists, would be able to comprehend the motions of the largest bodies in the universe
and those of the smallest atoms in a single formula - provided that it was sufficiently powerful to
submit all these data analysis. To it nothing would be uncertain and the future would be present
to its eye…
